White House backs Gillibrand over Ford

[SpartanDem]

Source: The Hill

The White House would not support former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) in a primary bid against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today.

Buzz has grown that Ford may launch a campaign against Gillibrand in the Empire State. Gibbs said the White House is happy with Gillibrand.

I think the White House is quite happy with the leadership and the representation of Sen. Gillibrand in New York, and, as many are in the we're supporting her reelection," Gibbs said at the daily press briefing.

Asked whether White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) would be able to clear the primary field, Gibbs was coy.

"Stay tuned," he said.


Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/75255-white-house-backing-gillibrand-over-ford

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R. Kirsten Gillibrand was my congresswoman...

And is now my senator. She definitely has my support. :-)

[No Elephants]

13. Off topic, but that is one adorable baby.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Thanks so much!

That's my baby, Jack. He's a Brussels Griffon, three years old, and he's rescue. :hi:

Jack:loveya:

[TheWraith]

2. I've met her. She is awesome and a good Senator. nt

[tomp]

3. wow, that's some pretty bold politicking by the white house.

any concern for what nys voters want, perhaps?

[Alexander]

4. Just a guess that they don't want a DLC Tennessee carpetbagger as a Senator.

It hasn't even been 4 years since Ford lost his bid for the Senate against Corker in Tennessee.

[No Elephants]

12. NY has a history of electing celebrity carpetbaggers (RFK, Hillary).

Ford, as head of the DLC and TV show pundit may not be a big enough celebrity for NY.

I think he would be elected if he were the nominee, if only bc of how liberal NYC tends to be (though Giuiani followed by Bloomberg might lead me to wonder).

[hedgehog]

19. Ford is no RFK, he's no Hillary Clinton, heck, he's not even

Rudolph Guiliani!

[tomp]

21. so why not let him spend his money and lose? nt

[hedgehog]

23. No one's saying he can't spend his money , but President Obama is not required

to support an out-of-state DLC hack over Senator Gillibrand, either.

[tomp]

29. i meant spend his money in a relatively fair fight...

...where candidates talk about issues and the voters decide, you know, democracy. Frankly, Hillebrand has yet to actually be elected by the people of new york and should stand to a field unweeded by the president's machine.

[No Elephants]

6. They cannot find out what NY voters want until the primary. Meanwhile, they

have to back one of the primary candidates. And, the DNC seems to love it some incumbents. In this case, I like the choice. I would not buy a used car from Harold Ford.

[tomp]

20. have to back a primary candidate? why?

how about anyone who wants to mount a campaign, does, and we see where the chips fall?

[dreamnightwind]

5. I figured the White House would LOVE Ford!

What's going on here? Seems like a good thing on the surface, Ford is a DINO supreme.

[TomCADem]

7. Yeah, With DUers Spreading The Myth That Obama Is DLC

Heads must be exploding that President Obama is not backing Mr. DLC himself, Harold Ford.

[No Elephants]

10. Gillebrand is Third Way and an incumbent.

Sorry, but choosing her is not a "myth" buster.

Obama is not a DLC member, although he employs many of them. But I think references here go more to his actions than to whether he is technically on the membership roster. Basically, though, like any politician, he tries to please everyone, not going too far in either direction, which is a typical DLC/Third Way/New Democrat strategy.

People to the left or right tend to be more principle-driven, which somehow has been turned into a negative these days. Oh, well.

On edit:

"President Barack Obama firmly resists ideological labels, but at the end of a private meeting with a group of moderate Democrats on Tuesday afternoon, he offered a statement of solidarity.


“I am a New Democrat,” he told the New Democrat Coalition, according to two sources at the White House session.

<snip>

Obama made his comment in discussing his budget priorities and broader goals, also calling himself a “pro-growth Democrat” during the course of conversation.


The self-descriptions are striking given Obama’s usual caution in being identified with any wing of his often-fractious party. He largely avoided the Democratic Leadership Council — the centrist group that Bill Clinton once led — and, with an eye on his national political standing, has always shied away from the liberal label, too.


As recently as last week, he steadfastly refused to define his governing philosophy."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19862.html

[No Elephants]

8. Yes, but Gillebrand is the incumbent and she is also Third Way. So, it's one

conservative vs. another. http://www.ontheissues.org/NY/Kirsten_Gillibrand.htm

Both, however, have been "liberalizing" the positions on which they used to run because they will need to carry NYC. I believe both will run on choice and the right to gay marriage. I've come to believe that the wedge issues mean less to politicians than the Wall Street issues. In any event, politicians seem to be more malleable on wedge issues than they are on "what's good for the money folk is good for America."

[dreamnightwind]

16. Right on

I think your statements are right on. Still I think from my perspective Gillibrand has to be better than Ford. I often see Ford on Morning Joe, and he usually doesn't even offer any rebuttal from the left at all, doesn't even pretend, just tries to sound like a reasoned voice in the same political universe as the rest of the rabble on that show. For a Dem, that's about as lame as it gets. Kinda hard to conceal that much elephant in a donkey costume, way too obvious.

[IndianaGreen]

26. Gillebrand supports full equality for LGBTs, while Ford was against LGBT rights when he ran in TN

Ford is a well known homophobe and he opposes abortion rights.

[Kahuna]

18. Apparently your reasoning doesn't hold up in the face of the facts. nt

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

31. Why would the WH love him?

He's wasting time and money on what is likely a safe dem seat.

[grantcart]

9. I wonder if Ford is reconsidering his rather condescending aproach to Obama?

[No Elephants]

11. Ah, I am not alone. During the campaign, I always tensed if I saw that

Ford was the only Democrat on a panel. It seemed to me that he would undermine Obama in an oh so polite, passive aggressive way. As a result, that is when I starting feeling that he was not trustworthy.

But, Obama appointed his biggest rival as Secretary of State, so I don't think he operates that way. I think Gillebrand is the incumbent and DNC policy is to back incumbents (e.g., Lieberman/Lamont, Reid), unless they really seem to have no chance at all (e.g, Dodd).

[grantcart]

22. I don't think Obama has problems with rivals, especially when they are real

substantive people.

However Ford's airy dismissive patronizing clap trap put him in the "do not touch" box.


Note that Ford not only got slammed in the NY Senate race he was offered nothing in the administration.


In the end he will end up on Fox.

[DeSwiss]

14. Harold Ford is a lightweight creampuff.....

...DLCer who I wouldn't vote for as County Cesspool Cleaner. His main claim to fame other than being from the Memphis Ford Family (a dubious distinction at best) is to lose to an even lighter-weight asshole than himself, whom few had heard of in this state, who was a Repuke and former slime-ridden, kick-back prone Mayor of Chattanooga. And now he wants to compare himself to David of David and Goliath fame:



Shiat! That book cover looks almost exactly like the same as the Snowbilly's. Geeze. What the fuck is it with these http://www.sarahpalingoingrogue.org/">phony pols and staring off into the distance with the clouds floating overhead? Is that suppose to inspire confidence?? Give me a break from these phony, made-up ain't-never-broke-a sweat-in-an-honest-day's-work-in-his-life Democrats! Damn their killing us with these fucking phonies! The only thing that worries me about all this is that he'll lose this gig and start looking back at Tennessee again. Stay the fuck away!

- At least until I'm gone.....

[RZM]

25. Hehe

I think the whole staring off into the distance thing is an old propaganda trick. Any Soviet-era poster inevitably shows people gazing off into the 'bright socialist future.' I think its supposed to communicate: 'I have a grand vision . . . come now, join me in my quest . . . or at least buy the damn book'

[Kahuna]

17. I don't get Ford's reasoning for the challenge. From what I understand..

Gillebrand is a conservative Dem, the same as Ford. So, why the challenge?

[Cha]

27. Gillibrand has been evolving as more of a Liberal

as New York's interim Senator..

"Former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D) noted today that he is "strongly considering running for the United States Senate" in New York. In preparation, the center-right Tennessean hopes to reinvent himself as a center-left New Yorker -- Ford voted in 2006 for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but now claims to support gay marriage.

* The White House is making it clear that it's opposed to Ford's possible primary campaign against appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D)."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

Will Ford go back to being a far right dino when he loses? The saga continues..

[Kahuna]

32. Thanks for the explanation.

:hug:

[hedgehog]

24. I suspect that Harold Ford has very little understanding of the labryinth

he would have to go through to even get on the NYS ballot.

[Arkana]

28. Good.

Gillibrand's the smarter choice.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

30. Harold Ford is starting to creep me out a bit.

Well, more than before anyway. I still don't understand why he's doing this.